Gene Jones: We must learn from the mistake of Iraq

Wednesday

Dec 28, 2011 at 5:30 AM

Americans rejoice that our troops are coming home from Iraq now that President Obama has declared the war has concluded. In a recent speech at Fort Bragg, N.C., he declared that casing our flag in Baghdad marked a historic achievement and a success as our troops leave with their heads held high.

While most Americans agree that overthrowing Saddam Hussein is an achievement worth celebrating, many Iraqis beg to differ. The president noted in the Fort Bragg speech that America has paid a high cost in blood and treasure to overthrow Saddam using military force, but he didn't say one word about the cost to the Iraqis.

The Iraqis are not celebrating our "achievement" with parades and dancing in the streets as would be expected from "success." Instead, Iraqis burned U.S. flags and the last withdrawing American troops had to sneak away at night to be safe.

Is it any wonder the Iraqis didn't hand us flowers? No one knows for sure, but the invasion resulted in at least 100,000 Iraqi deaths and perhaps as many as a million. Thousands of Iraqis were wounded, injured and left homeless. Millions were driven from their homes; 2 million chased from the country and another 2 million internally displaced. Iraq is in shambles.

Our troops can return with their heads held high because they did their duty. As Tennyson said, "Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do, and die." Almost 4,500 did so. The president mentioned in his speech that more than 30,000 were wounded, but he failed to mention that besides those casualties at least another 30,000 were injured or made ill. As many as 35 percent of the returning troops may suffer from post-traumatic stress, 10 percent from traumatic brain injury, and a high percentage experience chronic depression as the result of deployment to Iraq.

America's shining image on a hill has been dimmed as a result of the war. By invading Iraq, America initiated a preemptive war based on propaganda and disinformation when Iraq presented no credible threat to America. As the occupation progressed, war crimes like torture and murder by mercenaries were committed.

The Iraq war has made America weaker, poorer, less respected around the world, and increased the terrorism threat. We need to make sure the same mistakes are not repeated. Never again should we allow politicians to exploit our troops by sending them to fight and die unless in response to an imminent threat to America. Except in an emergency and as the Constitution requires, Congress should debate and declare war before troops are ordered into battle by the president. We must establish more effective ways than military force to bring despots and criminals like Saddam to justice by supporting such institutions as the International Criminal Court.

The Iraq war should have taught us to hold those Americans accountable who violate international and domestic law. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has said that he was lied to in order to obtain his vote to authorize the president to invade Iraq. Aren't such lies high crimes? To date, no one has been held accountable.

We should have learned that those who disseminated the propaganda that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaida cannot be trusted. Unfortunately, their views are still valued by many Americans, including some presidential candidates who have made them foreign policy and national security advisers. Instead of providing counsel, they should be censured and held accountable for their policy failures.

Time will tell what we remember and how much we learn from the Iraq war. If we forget the sordid history and fail to learn, we'll repeat the same mistakes. Already the war drums are beating to invade Iran and many Americans still give credence to the same deceivers who brought on the Iraq fiasco. Let us vow never to go to war again except when absolutely necessary and as a last resort.

Gene Jones,PresidentVeterans for Common Sense

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